I have done a few changes and upgrades over the last few months. I attended Overland Expo West and we have already discussed the weather we ran into out there. As others have stated, we found what gear worked and what did not. I learned several things, as I do every time I take a trip. I take notes and always go back and try and tweak thing's........this is a result of that.
I towed my Manley trailer with me, to bring as much gear as I could. This was a solo trip and I wanted to be prepared. However, there are several items I did not bring with me on my trip to the West. 2 items I found that would have been very beneficial are my little buddy heater and Oz Tent. Due to the weather for obvious reasons the heater, no need to explain this one.
Second my Oz tent, I have several thoughts on this.........more on that later
As nice as it was to have the gear, I think I brought too much and felt limited at times with the trailer in tow. I had a Tepui RTT on my trailer, tent worked well when used alone. But I also had the annex, my issue is the RTT racks are not high enough to fully deploy the annex. On nice days it is not a problem, but with all the rain, sleet and snow we had, it was a huge issue. Due to it not being fully deployed, large amounts of fabric overlap on the bottom, trapping snow, water, mud etc. In turn this leaked in and made the floor filled with water and the annex was basically a swimming pool and useless.
Sorry for the sideway pics.
Another issue with the trailer was the spare. As cool as it looked with it on top of the lid with the safari strap, it was not functional off road. The tire actually came loose several times and was laying on top of the strap, I was lucky it stayed on the lid. I had to rearrange things and put the spare in the tub, this took up a ton of room. I knew I would have to come up with a solution for this when I got home. I ended up getting a Kurt 2 inch receiver for my spare and it was a cheap perfect solution. I had to modify it a little to work with the larger tire, but so far so good......
When I was at Expo West, due to the weather and my current setup, I looked at several different tents people had. I was looking hard at the Eezi awn globe trotter. With the existing height of my racks, it would work and I would have a huge covered area to stay out of the weather, change etc. It is an expensive tent, but the quality is second to none. I slowly started to work in discussions of tents and how our current setup did not work in such bad weather. The discussion came back to cost obviously and we already had the Oz tent. She is right we have an Oz tent. However, all of us who own one, know the biggest draw back is the packed size. The foot print is huge and no longer fits inside my jeep due to the interior storage rack. Now it did not fit very well to begin with, it ended up being between the front seats on top of the arm rest, not very comfortable driving this way. Yes, I could have put it on top of the trailer lid, but hindsight is 20/20. Hey, I can put the tent on the roof rack I need! Another reason for a rack, I could put the Tepui tent up there, ditch the trailer if needed and use the annex. Now, the height would be good and I should not have any issues with the fabric laying on top of itself. What a great idea I told my wife......
So I began to look at roof rack options.
I really did not like the look of the Gobi and wanted something more streamlined, I chose the Rhino Rack. I had it installed and I am very happy with it. The hard top can still be removed easily, this is due to the internal skeleton which supports a good deal of weight if you choose to load it up.
The roof rack also solved the issue of how I could mount a rear awning for my cooking setup in the rear of the jeep. I have been looking at awnings for a while, however there was no way to mount it, so that was on hold............Once the rack was on I called Paul May of Equipt and ordered the Eezi awn 2000 Spolya 1.5. This was shipped quickly and is a great solution for my needs. Due to the rhino rack, I needed to come up with a way to mount it. I modified side awning mounts, with the Eezi awn bracket and bolted them to the back. I have had it on all week, seems to be good so far.....
Another item I needed to address with the trailer, was some water and condensation would get under the rubber mat.......not a lot, but enough that I did not like it. I decided to Line X the tub, no more issue with that!
As in the beginning of this update, I am always trying to tweak things........My wife loves this part!
Well, it just so happens that when I was getting the rack installed, I was at OK 4WD, the dealer for James Baroud Tents...........I think you see where this is going. I looked at the hard top tents and drooled all over them for hours. Man, it would be nice to have one of these. Let's see all the reasons I need one.....I can't use my annex anyway due to the height of the trailer, it is lighter than my current set up and it is made to fit perfectly on the Rhino Rack. This must be a sign, I am supposed to buy a James Baroud tent, why else would there be all these great reasons? I picked up a brochure and headed home.
For a couple of days, I checked out the web and all the different rigs with hard top tents. Oh, I also left the brochure out on the table. It was time to bring up another discussion about tents. After a lengthy discussion with the Ministry of Finance, the stars aligned.....the tent was a go! Time to go back to New Jersey and pick up the new tent! We got the James Baroud Discovery Extreme Evolution............
For now, because we are never done, the last bit of tweaking was to the interior of the jeep and organization. I found just moving some things around, making better use of space.
I am now using my drawer for all kitchen, cooking , preparing etc. I have relocated recovery gear and first aide to one corner of the interior rack. Tools and repairs to the lower area on top of the drawer in the rear. I still have plenty of room to spare on the rack and the back seat area is empty and available folding the rear seats............. Here are some interior pics.
